


Blood Moon Waning

by Nevanna



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Book 3: Fire, Episode Tag, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-10 00:59:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5562658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Katara, a new ability means a new set of conflicts and questions about the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood Moon Waning

**Author's Note:**

> This story fills the "forced to hurt somebody" square for Hurt/Comfort Bingo. It takes place after Book 3, Chapter 8 ("The Puppet Master") and requires canon knowledge up through that point.

The moon, to other eyes, would appear as full as it was yesterday, but Katara can feel the difference under her skin, in her veins, behind her eyes.

They’ve spent the last day moving as far away as possible from the village of fear and puppets, even knowing that the puppet master can no longer harm them.

Her brother and their companions have retreated to their tents. Is it better to act as if nothing has changed? Should they be afraid of what she’ll do to them if they anger her?

_“My work here is done. Congratulations, Katara. You’re a bloodbender…”_

She knows that she should stamp out the campfire and try to rest, and perhaps she’ll be able to quiet the mocking echo of Hama’s words inside her mind.

A twig snaps behind her. Katara tenses for a moment before she hears Aang say her name. "Is everything okay?”

She hesitates. "I don't know."

“You feel like talking?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. A little.” For a few minutes, the only sound is the snap and hiss of the flames. “You don’t have to worry that I’ll try to… control you,” Katara says at last. “I never would.”

“None of us think that. I promise.” 

Katara stares at her hands. “Even before I knew how it felt, I didn’t want to bloodbend anybody.” She was a prisoner inside her own body, her mind screaming in protest while her arms and legs moved without her, and she couldn’t escape the knowledge that Hama could make her do _anything_. And yet, she can also remember how it felt to regain control, and to lock the old woman in place, helpless and immobile, with a single gesture.

“Would you have _wanted_ her to make us kill each other?” Aang asks her. 

“Of course not.”

“You were just using her power against her, and you saved all of us.”

“I know you’re right. And I know that she was _just_ using it against the Fire Nation, and they’ve been our enemies since before her time. No matter what she is, I still understand her.” Maybe it’s only the smoke that’s making Katara’s eyes sting and swim. “She told me that I don’t have a choice, if I want to help our side win the war. Is it wrong to use this ability, or is it wrong _not_ to?”

“I don’t think I can answer that.”

“I guess I don’t really expect you to.”

Aang watches the fire for a moment. “Sometimes I get scared of my own power, too,” he says. “The guru at the Eastern Air Temple kept saying that I have to accept what I am and what I can do, and forgive myself when I make the wrong decision. He made it sound simpler than it really is, but I don’t think he was wrong.”

“But you try not to hurt people in the first place.”

“Sure,” Aang agrees. “You trust me to do that, and I trust you back.” 

The Avatar pretty much has the rest of them beaten when it comes to terrifying abilities and obligations, and Katara usually tries not to forget that. “I’m really glad you’re here,” she says softly.

He puts an arm around her, and the fire warms them both. She could see him (and everyone, including herself) as mere vessels of blood, vulnerable to the whims and power of another, but she chooses not to.

Maybe Hama was wrong, after all. When Katara looks at her fellow human beings, friends and enemies alike, she will _always_ have that choice.


End file.
